Sascha Braunig
Deep V
2019
Oil on linen over panel
60 x 38 inches
152.4 x 96.5 cm
The skeleton was as happy as a madman whose straitjacket had been taken off. He felt liberated at being able to walk without flesh. The mosquitoes didn’t bite him anymore. He didn’t have to have his hair cut. He was neither hungry nor thirsty, hot nor cold. He was far from the lizard of love.
–Leonora Carrington, The Seventh Horse and Other Tales
As we reopen, Petzel Gallery is pleased to present A Love Letter to a Nightmare, a summer group exhibition that will be on view from July 15 – August 14 at the gallery’s Chelsea location. A Love Letter to a Nightmare includes work by Danica Barboza, Genesis Belanger, Meriem Bennani, Sascha Braunig, Florencia Escudero, Hadi Fallahpisheh, Anna Glantz, Ivy Haldeman, Christina Quarles, Emily Mae Smith, and Greg Parma Smith.
The exhibition’s premise is to take into consideration contemporary visual modes and expressions that trace back to historical movements such as Surrealism, Symbolism and Pop, through the lens of our current uncertain existence. Call it vamped Surrealism and Symbolism. The show ponders how the aesthetic of modern surrealism/symbolism has been dressed up and added upon, sexualized, feminized, and reworked in the 21st Century. How does the state of a bound subconscious affect these artworks? This has become especially prevalent while the world shelters from the coronavirus pandemic and confronts centuries of inequity in a moment of historic unrest and great potential for revolutionary change. Beneath our daily struggle for normalcy bubbles a shared unconscious anxiety, fear, loneliness, despair, and trepidation of the future.
Christina Quarles
All I Need is the Air That I Breathe
2020
Acrylic on canvas
56 x 60 inches
142.2 x 152.4 cm
Greg Parma Smith
Red Snake Scene in Felicitous Continuity
2020
Oil on canvas
44 x 44 inches
111.8 x 111.8 cm
Ivy Haldeman
Colossus, Head Leans Right, Hand Supports Bun, Face Covered
2020
Acrylic on canvas
84 x 58 inches
213.4 x 147.3 cm
![Danica Barboza, Cleft [ dramaturgical pîlos ]](https://img.artlogic.net/w_800,h_800,c_limit/exhibit-e/63692af4d0d707561d062132/d848e9d89f105696bf55a0b86f4026ca.jpeg)
Danica Barboza
Cleft [ dramaturgical pîlos ]
2020
Clay, paint, rope, wood, felt, fleece, tape, cardboard, acrylic yarn, newspaper, polyvinyl acetate, gloss finish, polyurethane foam, cabinet door, beanbag chair, shower curtain rods, metal computer monitor, scanning beds, shiny shag chenille fabric, dress, canvas fabric, upholstery padding, cloth back scrubber, black and white cotton shirt
54 x 116 x 150 inches
137.2 x 294.6 x 381 cm
In these times, the fabric of society is now both flattened into two dimensions as we socialize through screens – from our Zoom meetings, family check-ins, and “cocktails with friends,” to the daily State and Federal news conferences, Instagram stories, and Tik Tok videos – and yet simultaneously burst open in valiant action both intellectual and physical as we gather, protest, and organize in efforts to reimagine and rebuild a more just world. Our dreams have become more “vivid” and “menacing,” according to The New York Times, and, of course, in fantasy there is room for radical possibility. How might these practices of contemporary Surrealism, Symbolism and Pop, be read and implemented in reaction to the current upheaval? As one of the artists offered – how might these daydreams and nightmares be used as “forms of resistance, or in addressing trauma, enfranchising the masses, and envisioning necessary escape?” The exhibition asks how does each artist’s subjective work – painting, sculpture, installation, and video – explain a world riddled with multiple “objective” truths?
Florencia Escudero
Lion's Breath
2019
Machine-sewn, cut bathrobes and velvet, metal purse clasps, hand-sewn digitally-printed stain, paracord, and upholstery foam
72 x 49 x 10.5 inches
182.9 x 124.5 x 26.7 cm
Florencia Escudero
Reptilian Couture
2019
Hand-sewn, digitally-printed, silkscreened, and machine-embroidered satin with spandex, velvet, and hand-drawn, 3-D-penned plastic with ink residue, silver chain, metal purse clasps, and laser-cut mirrored plexiglass
60 x 36 x 8 inches
152.4 x 91.4 x 20.3 cm
Florencia Escudero
Untitled
2019
Hand-sewn velvet and machine-embroidered pleather, upholstery foam, spacer mesh, foam, and cast concrete base
9 x 13 x 12 inches
22.9 x 33 x 30.5 cm
Florencia Escudero
Frog Licker
2019
Hand-sewn, digitally-printed satin and silkscreened spandex, 3D-printed plastic, metal purse clasp, with hand-sewn velvet, foam, and spacer mesh base, and hand-sewn, digitally-printed satin, silkscreened spandex, foam, and spacer mesh parts
6.5 x 13.5 x 5 inches
16.5 x 34.3 x 12.7 cm
Hadi Fallahpisheh
Kill Him
2020
Unique light drawing on photo sensitive paper
77 x 43 x 2 inches
195.6 x 109.2 x 5.1 cm
Hadi Fallahpisheh
Clear Evidence
2020
Unique light drawing on photo sensitive paper
86 x 42 x 2 inches
218.4 x 106.7 x 5.1 cm
Hadi Fallahpisheh
Hi Cutie
2020
Unique light drawing on photo sensitive paper
76 x 40 x 2 inches
193 x 101.6 x 5.1 cm
Hadi Fallahpisheh
Stay
2020
Unique light drawing on photo sensitive paper
86 x 42 x 2 inches
218.4 x 106.7 x 5.1 cm
Hadi Fallahpisheh
Persian Cat Isabella (Mouse House)
2020
Ceramic
12 x 16 x 16 inches
30.5 x 40.6 x 40.6 cm
Genesis Belanger
Picking up the pieces
2020
Stoneware (set of 3 unbreakable elements)
Dust pan: 20 x 3.5 x 15.75 in; 50.8 x 8.9 x 40 cm
Mouth: 6 x 3.5 x 2.5 in; 15.2 x 8.9 x 6.4 cm
Brush: 15.5 x 4 x 5.5 in; 39.4 x 10.2 x 14 cm
